Griffin, John Howard, 1920-1980

John Howard Griffin and Merton discuss issues such as civil rights, developments in the Catholic Church, politics, shared friendship with Jacques Maritain, and a shared love of photography. The file contains carbon copies of Merton's letters to Griffin and original letters from Griffin to Merton. There is also an original photograph by Griffin of the mother of Clyde Kennard, and there are photocopies of photographs by Griffin and by Merton.

John Howard Griffin was a journalist and author of a book that Merton read and found inspirational, Black Like Me, in which Griffin took medication to darken his skin and traveled throughout the racially segregated south of the late 1950's. Griffin first came to Gethsemani and met Merton in the early 1960's. Thereafter, he often visited and struck up a correspondence with Merton. He was also friends with Jacques Maritain who met with him and Merton in October of 1966 at Gethsemani. Griffin helped foster a love of photography in Merton and provided cameras, film and developing for him. Griffin was appointed Merton's official biographer, but was unable to finish his planned biography due to health troubles. Despite this, he produced a book on Merton's photography called A Hidden Wholeness: The Visual World of Thomas Merton. Two books using materials collected while working on Merton's biography were published after Griffin's death, The Hermitage Journal: A Diary Kept While Working on the Biography of Thomas Merton and Follow the Ecstasy: Thomas Merton, the Hermitage Years 1965-1968. All letters are written from Griffin's home in Texas, unless otherwise stated. He was in Mansfield, Texas, until midway through 1966, then in Fort Worth.

See also published letters from Merton to Griffin in The Road to Joy, pp. 131-141; and see also the "Collins, Angela of the Eucharist, Mother," "Landry, Lionel", "Maritain, Jacques" and "Tadié, Marie" files.

[5"x7" b/w photo Griffin took of the mother of Clyde Kennard - Clyde was an African-American who tried to enroll in the all-white Mississippi Southern College but was unfairly framed by the state's Sovereignty Commission and sentenced to 7 years - after release in 1963, cancer left untreated in prison killed him]
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[enclosed with 1966/12/13 letter, in which Griffin states, "I am enclosing a list of photographers whose work is on permanent display in a Photography Hall of Fame in Los Angeles (Reseda High School)"]
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[a humorous enclosure meant to look like a press release making light of the Pope Paul VI's statement against birth control - includes a photograph of an African wood carving which Griffin states is a portrait by his wife of him]
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The box of 30 color slides from May 1968 represent photos taken variously in three general locations

[from Don Devereux (see also Devereux file) to Br. Patrick Hart and Griffin - identifies locations of 30 color slides Merton took in May 1968 on this trip to New Mexico (possibly corresponding to 1129-1161 in Merton's photographs) including three main locations: area around Poshuuingue (Pueblo Indian village) and the Tewa World Shrine (45 miles northwest of Santa Fe); Ghost Ranch where Georgia O'Keeffe was in residence; and the Monastery of Christ in the Desert
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